1 Reviewing Information About this Guide

Note:

This guide describes how to install Oracle Client on a system that does not have any Oracle software installed on it. If there is an existing Oracle software installation on this system, then refer to Oracle Database Client Installation Guide for Linux x86-64 for more detailed installation instructions.

This guide describes how to complete a default installation of Oracle Database Client on a system that does not have any Oracle software installed on it. It describes how to install one of the following installation types:

Administrator: Enables applications to connect to an Oracle Database instance on the local system or on a remote system. It also provides tools that enable you to administer Oracle Database.

Runtime: Enables applications to connect to an Oracle Database instance on the local system or on a remote system.

This guide is available on the product disc. To access it, use a Web browser to open the welcome.htm file located in the top-level directory of the installation media, and then select the Documentation tab.

2 Logging In to the System as root

Before you install Oracle Database Client, you must complete several tasks as the root user. To log in as the root user, complete one of the following procedures:

Note:

You must install the software from an X Window System workstation, an X terminal, or a PC or other system with X server software installed.

If you are installing the software from an X Window System workstation or X terminal, then:

Start a local terminal session, for example, an X terminal (xterm).

If you are not installing the software on the local system, then enter the following command to enable the remote host to display X applications on the local X server:

$ xhost fully_qualified_remote_host_name

For example:

$ xhost somehost.us.acme.com

If you are not installing the software on the local system, then use the ssh, rlogin, or telnet command to connect to the system where you want to install the software:

$ telnet fully_qualified_remote_host_name

If you are not logged in as the root user, then enter the following command to switch user to root:

$ su - root
password:
#

If you are installing the software from a PC or other system with X server software installed, then:

Note:

If necessary, refer to your X server documentation for more information about completing this procedure. Depending on the X server software that you are using, you may need to complete the tasks in a different order.

Start the X server software.

Configure the security settings of the X server software to permit remote hosts to display X applications on the local system.

Connect to the remote system where you want to install the software and start a terminal session on that system, for example, an X terminal (xterm).

If you are not logged in as the root user on the remote system, then enter the following command to switch user to root:

$ su - root
password:
#

3 Checking the Hardware Requirements

The system must meet the following minimum hardware requirements:

512 MB of physical RAM

The following table describes the relationship between installed RAM and the configured swap space requirement.

RAM

Swap Space

Up to 512 MB

2 times the size of RAM

Between 513 MB and 726 MB

1.5 times the size of RAM

More than 726 MB

0.75 times the size of RAM

The minimum client installation TMP space required is 115 MB. The minimum disk space requirement in the /tmp directory depends on the installation type you have selected. The following table lists the minimum disk space requirements for the /tmp directory in each type of installation.

Installation Type

Disk Space Required for the /tmp Directory (MB)

Admin

850

Runtime

470

Custom (all components selected)

780

Instant

150

Between 34 MB and 820 MB of disk space for the Oracle software, depending on the installation type

To ensure that the system meets these requirements, follow these steps:

To determine the physical RAM size, enter the following command:

# grep MemTotal /proc/meminfo

If the size of the physical RAM installed in the system is less than the specified value, then you must install more memory before continuing.

To determine the size of the configured swap space, enter the following command:

# grep SwapTotal /proc/meminfo

If necessary, refer to your operating system documentation for information about how to configure additional swap space.

To determine the amount of free disk space available in the /tmp directory, enter the following command:

# df -k /tmp

If there is less than 400 MB of disk space available in the /tmp directory, then complete one of the following steps:

Delete unnecessary files from the /tmp directory to meet the disk space requirement.

Set the TEMP and TMPDIR environment variables when setting the oracle user's environment (described later).

Extend the file system that contains the /tmp directory. If necessary, contact your system administrator for information about extending file systems.

To determine the amount of free disk space available on the system, enter the following command:

# df -k

The following table shows the approximate disk space requirements for software files for each installation type.

Installation Type

Requirement for Software Files (MB)

Instant Client

130

Administrator

850

Runtime

495

Custom (maximum)

790

Note:

If you want to configure only the Instant Client Light component of Instant Client, then you need 34 MB of disk space to store the related files.

To determine whether the system architecture can run the software, enter the following command:

# grep "model name" /proc/cpuinfo

This command displays the processor type. Verify that the processor architecture matches the Oracle software release that you want to install. If you do not see the expected output, then you cannot install the software on this system.

4 Checking the Software Requirements

The system must meet the following minimum software requirements.

Item

Requirement

Operating system

One of the following operating system versions:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS/ES 3.0 (Update 4 or later)

Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS/ES 4.0 (Update 1 or later)

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9.0 with SP2 or later

Kernel version

The system must be running the following kernel version (or a later version):

Intel C++ Compiler 8.1 or later and the version of GNU C and C++ compilers listed previously for the distribution are supported for use with these products.

Note:

Intel C++ Compiler v8.1 or later is supported. However, it is not required for installation. On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, OCCI is supported with version 3.2 of the GNU C++ compiler. This is the default compiler version. OCCI is also supported with Intel Compiler v8.1 with gcc 3.2.3 standard template libraries.

Oracle XML Developer's Kit is not supported with GCC on Red Hat Linux 4.0. It is supported only with Intel C++ Compiler (ICC).

You can use the following optional JDK version with the Oracle JDBC/OCI drivers; however, it is not required for the installation:

Sun JDK 1.5.0 (64-bit)

Sun JDK 1.5.0 (32-bit)

Sun JDK 1.4.2_09 (32-bit)

See Also:

If you plan to use GNU Compiler Collection as the primary compiler, then refer to Oracle Database Installation Guide for Linux x86-64 for instructions on configuring the primary compiler.

To ensure that the system meets these requirements:

To determine which version of the operating system is installed, enter the following command:

# cat /proc/version

Note:

Only the distributions and versions listed earlier in this section are supported. Do not install the software on other versions of Linux.

To determine whether the required kernel is installed, enter the following command:

# uname -r

The following is sample output obtained by running this command on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 system:

2.4.21-27.EL

In this example, the output shows the kernel version (2.4.21) and errata level (27 .EL) on the system.

If the kernel version does not meet the requirement specified earlier in this section, then contact your operating system vendor for information about obtaining and installing kernel updates.

To determine whether the required packages are installed, enter commands similar to the following:

# rpm -q package_name

If a package is not installed, or if the version is lower than the required version, then install it from your Linux distribution media or download the required package from your Linux vendor's Web site.

5 Creating Required Operating System Group and User

The following local operating system group and user must exist on the system:

The Oracle Inventory group (oinstall)

The Oracle software owner (oracle)

To determine if this group and user already exist, and if required, to create them, follow these steps:

To determine if the oinstall group exists, enter the following command:

# more /etc/oraInst.loc

If the output of this command shows the oinstall group name, then the group already exists.

If the oraInst.loc file exists, then the output from this command is similar to the following:

inventory_loc=/u01/app/oracle/oraInventory
inst_group=oinstall

The inst_group parameter shows the name of the Oracle Inventory group (oinstall).

If necessary, enter the following command to create the oinstall group:

# /usr/sbin/groupadd oinstall

To determine whether the oracle user exists and belongs to the correct groups, enter the following command:

# id oracle

If the oracle user exists, then this command displays information about the groups to which the user belongs. The output should be similar to the following, indicating that oinstall is the primary group:

uid=440(oracle) gid=200(oinstall) groups=201(dba),202(oper)

If necessary, complete one of the following actions:

If the oracle user exists, but its primary group is not oinstall, then enter a command similar to the following, where the -g option specifies oinstall as the primary group and the -G option specifies any existing groups to which the oracle user belongs:

# /usr/sbin/usermod -g oinstall -G dba oracle

If the oracle user does not exist, then enter the following command to create it:

# /usr/sbin/useradd -g oinstall [-G dba] oracle

This command creates the oracle user and specifies:

oinstall as the primary group

dba as an optional secondary group

Enter the following command to set the password of the oracle user:

# passwd oracle

6 Creating an Oracle Base Directory

Note:

You need not perform this procedure if an Oracle base directory already exists on the system. If you determine that the oinstall group exists, then, typically, the Oracle base directory is the parent directory of the Oracle Inventory directory.

To create the Oracle base directory:

Enter the following command to display information about all mounted file systems:

# df -k

This command displays information about all the file systems mounted on the system, including:

The physical device name

The total amount, used amount, and available amount of disk space

The mount point directory for that file system

From the display, identify either one or two file systems that meet the disk space requirements mentioned earlier in this section.

Note the name of the mount point directory for each file system that you identified.

Enter commands similar to the following to create the recommended subdirectories in the mount point directory that you identified and set the appropriate owner, group, and permissions on them:

For example, if the mount point you identify is /u01 and oracle is the user name of the Oracle software owner, then the recommended Oracle base directory path is as follows:

/u01/app/oracle

When you configure the oracle user's environment, set the ORACLE_BASE environment variable to specify the Oracle base directory that you have created.

7 Configuring the oracle User's Environment

You run Oracle Universal Installer from the oracle account. However, before you start Oracle Universal Installer, you must configure the environment of the oracle user. To configure the environment, you must:

Set the default file mode creation mask (umask) to 022 in the shell startup file.

Set the DISPLAY environment variable.

To set the oracle user's environment:

Start a new terminal session, for example, an X terminal (xterm).

Enter the following command to ensure that X Window applications can display on this system:

$ xhost fully_qualified_remote_host_name

Complete one of the following steps:

If the terminal session is not connected to the system where you want to install the software, then log in to that system as the oracle user.

If the terminal session is connected to the system where you want to install the software, then switch user to oracle:

$ su - oracle

To determine the default shell for the oracle user, enter the following command:

$ echo $SHELL

Open the oracle user's shell startup file in any text editor:

Note:

On Red Hat Linux, .bash_profile is the user startup file for the Bash shell.

Bourne shell (sh), Bash shell (bash), or Korn shell (ksh):

$ vi .bash_profile

C shell (csh or tcsh):

% vi .login

Enter or edit the following line in the shell startup file, specifying a value of 022 for the default file mode creation mask:

umask 022

If the ORACLE_SID, ORACLE_HOME, or ORACLE_BASE environment variable is set in the file, then remove the corresponding lines from the file.

Save the file, and exit from the editor.

To run the shell startup script, enter the following command:

Bash shell:

$ . ./.bash_profile

Bourne or Korn shell:

$ . ./.profile

C shell:

% source ./.login

If you are not installing the software on the local system, then enter a command similar to the following to direct X applications to display on the local system:

Bourne, Bash, or Korn shell:

$ DISPLAY=local_host:0.0 ; export DISPLAY

C shell:

% setenv DISPLAY local_host:0.0

In this example, local_host is the host name or IP address of the system that you want to use to display Oracle Universal Installer (your workstation or PC).

If you determined that the /tmp directory had insufficient free disk space when checking the hardware requirements, then identify a file system with the required amount of free space and set the TEMP and TMPDIR environment variables as follows:

Use the df -k command to identify a suitable file system with sufficient free space.

If necessary, enter commands similar to the following to create a temporary directory on the file system that you identified, and set the appropriate permissions on the directory:

If Oracle Universal Installer does not start, then refer to Oracle Database Client Installation Guide for Linux x86-64 for information about how to troubleshoot X display problems.

The following table describes the recommended action for each Oracle Universal Installer screen. Use the following guidelines to complete the installation:

If you need more assistance, or if you want to choose an option that is not a default, then click Help for additional information.

If you encounter errors while installing or linking the software, then refer to for information about troubleshooting.

Note:

If you have completed the tasks listed previously, then you can complete the installation by choosing the default values on most screens.

Screen

Recommended Action

Welcome

Click Next.

Select Installation Type

Select InstantClient, Administrator, or Runtime. Then, click Next.

Specify Home Details

Specify the name and directory path of the Oracle home.

Product-Specific Prerequisite Checks

Verify that all of the prerequisite checks have succeeded, and then click Next.

Oracle Universal Installer checks the system to verify that it is configured correctly to run Oracle software. If you have completed all of the preinstallation steps in this guide, then all of the checks should pass.

If a check fails, then review the cause of the failure listed for that check on the screen. If possible, rectify the problem and rerun the check. Alternatively, if you are satisfied that your system meets the requirements, then you can select the check box for the failed check to manually verify the requirement.

Summary

Review the information displayed on this screen, and then click Install.

Install

This screen displays status information while the product is being installed.

Configuration Assistants

This screen is displayed only if you select Administrator or Runtime on the Select Installation type screen.

This screen displays status information for the Oracle Net Configuration Assistant that configures Oracle Net. When the message is displayed at the end of this process, click OK to continue.

Oracle Net Configuration Assistant: Welcome

This screen is displayed only if you select Administrator or Runtime on the Select Installation Type screen.

Review the information on this screen, and then click Next.

The Oracle Net Configuration Assistant configures the easy connect naming method. For more information about this naming method, click Help.

Oracle Net Configuration Assistant: Done

Click Finish to continue.

Execute Configuration Scripts

When prompted, read the instructions and then run the script mentioned on this screen. Click OK to continue.

End of Installation

To exit from Oracle Universal Installer, click Exit, and then click Yes.

10 What to Do Next?

After you have successfully installed Oracle Client, refer to Oracle Database Client Installation Guide for Linux x86-64 for information about required and optional postnstallation steps.

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